Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace
Written by Mary Hoffman and Illustrated by Caroline Binch
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1991
Grade:K-2
Themes: performing, determination, inspirational and love

Summary: A young girl named Grace loves reading and acting out stories. She puts on plays for her family. One day in school, Grace's teacher told the class that they will be putting on the play, Peter Pan. Grace knew she wanted to be Peter Pan. Her classmates told her she couldn't be Peter Pan because she was a girl and African American. Grace was very upset, but she believed in herself and auditioned for the part of Peter Pan and in the end she got the part!

Reflection:   This is a sweet and inspirational book about a determined girl who wouldn't let her classmates bring her down. She wanted something and never gave up. Determination, race and gender roles are all things to discuss after reading this book.

Pre-Reading: Tell the children that this book, Amazing Grace has a lot in common with a book they read a couple days ago called Oliver Button is a Sissy by Tomie DePaola. As I read this book think about how it is similar and different than Oliver Button. As I read the book to the children I will model text- to- text connections to construct meaning and enhance understanding. I will tell them that making text-to-text connections from one book to another, can help them to understand the new story and make predictions about what may happen based on what they know from the other story.

Post-Reading: As a class we will complete a large Venn-diagram comparing and contrasting the connections we made between Amazing Grace and Oliver Button is a Sissy.

About the Author:

Mary Hoffman was born in New Hampshire. When she was three her family moved to London. She has two degrees, one in English Literature and one in Linguistics. Her first book, White Magic was published in 1975. She has written over 90 books for children and teenagers. She has a husband and three daughters. She travels to Italy at least once a year.